URBASER PLANS ITS SECOND PLANT IN ZARAGOZA
Following the presentation of the plant in Cubillos del Sil, León, last July, Urbaser has taken the second step in its plan to expand lithium battery recycling capacity in the Iberian Peninsula. The company has submitted an application for an Integrated Environmental Authorization (AAI) for a new facility to be located in Zaragoza’s PTR López Soriano industrial park.
The project planned for the Aragonese capital will have a greater capacity than the León facility and will enable the company to strengthen its position in the treatment of this type of waste in the Iberian Peninsula.
UP TO 36,000 TONNES OF BATTERIES A YEAR
The new plant is designed to reach a processing capacity of up to 36,000 tonnes per year. To handle this volume, the complex will have a larger operating area and more processing equipment than the facility planned in Cubillos del Sil.
It will also include an expansion of the authorized LER codes, allowing it to process different types of batteries and accumulators available on the market, including the various types of lithium-ion batteries.
AN ALTERNATIVE TO BATTERY TREATMENT OUTSIDE SPAIN
The company is proposing this new infrastructure in response to the growth of electric vehicles and the progress of the economy’s electrification. Until now, Spain’s limited industrial capacity to process lithium batteries has often required this waste to be managed through cross-border shipments.
With the development of these facilities, Urbaser aims to offer a treatment alternative within the Iberian Peninsula and anticipate the increase in waste that the expansion of electric mobility is expected to generate in the coming years.
MORE PLANTS IN CASTILLA-LA MANCHA AND PORTUGAL
Urbaser’s expansion plan does not end in Zaragoza and León. The company is already working on the engineering phase of a third recycling plant in Castilla-La Mancha and has also begun looking for sites to expand its operational presence in Portugal.
